Firebrand
by Blue Mage Quartet
Summary: /Oneshot, Complete\ His fists clenched and his teeth grinded together as he neared the top, a large part of him wishing that whatever had been endangering his Master Emerald was still there so he could leave fist-sized impressions on its face.


**Firebrand**

**AN: Another little humor/friendship oneshot thing, this time between Knuckles and Amy, who are copyright SEGA. There is no Fire Emblem inspiration this time around, just what I thought up and wrote down. Hope you enjoy! Oh, and the title refers to both characters being ocasionally short-tempered and hotheaded, thus, "Firebrand."**

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Knuckles the Echidna wasn't exactly known for an extreme amount of patience. Anyone describing him as "even-tempered" or "gentle" was either blind or stupid. Possibly both.

It didn't help that his terrifically violent temper was like a keg of dynamite with a lit fuse seconds from reaching the point detonation. And that was on _good _days.

Lord help anyone who came within a 50-mile radius of the echidna, Angel Island, or the Master Emerald on one of his _bad _days. Criterion that fit into Knuckles definition of "bad" includes:

-More than three people on the island at once. To the solitary fighter, three people in his domain constituted a crowd. Even if one of the aforementioned "people" was a mystical, glowing green rock with more magical power than a Black Mage could shake a Zeus Mace at.

-Generally, anyone coming within _viewing _distance of the Master Emerald shrine. Many an unlucky traveler, and some of the Echidna's friends (i.e. Sonic), sported bruises and aches courtesy of spiky fisted rage. This can be explained by Knuckles' overwhelming sense of paranoia that "someone will steal my emerald" and his policy of "kick them the hell off my island first, ask questions never."

-Bat thieves with chests larger than their brains, and a rotund scientist who somehow always convinces him "Sonic is plotting to steal the Master Emerald!" Again.

The scarlet guardian classified his days as "good" or "bad" depending on the interaction of both people and events therein. If the day was peaceful and quiet, his only company being the Master Emerald he was charged to protect, and there were no aggravating, blue, spiky _things _within his personal space (read: the entirety of Angel Island), then it was as close to the definition of "perfect" as it could be, in Knuckles' archaic and socially awkward dictionary.

It was especially nice, if, say, he was able to forsake the company of the giant emerald for a little while and retreat to one of the many springs scattered across the landscape of the island. A solitary, quiet swim helped Knuckles relax and focus his mind, and was quite nice for meditation.

Fortunately for the echidna, today was one such day.

"I'll never understand why Sonic hates the water," the burly framed warrior sighed happily as the crystal clear, cool water enveloped his body. He swam into the center of the lake, the sun shining overhead through puffy white clouds.

"Now _this _is the life!" Knuckles proclaimed aloud, allowing himself to drift idly on the water's surface. Violet eyes lidded contentedly and there was _almost _a half-smile gracing his lips, which was borderline miraculous, seeing as he rarely used muscles other than the ones that constituted punching things.

The last echidna in the world elicited another peaceful sigh as the completely familiar sights and sounds of his home suffused him.

The movement of the trees in the wind, the branches swaying back and forth in perfect harmony, an intricate, choreographed dance.

The waterfall cascading down from the mountains, splashing in all directions as it flowed into the body of water below, creating brilliant diamond droplets that flashed in the light of the sun.

The cries and howls of the wildlife across the island mixing into a bizarre symphony of nature.

The sound of something wooden and heavy clashing repeatedly against a solid object- Okay, _that _wasn't familiar.

Knuckles flailed in reaction, concentration disrupted as the jarring noise echoed throughout the island. He swam hurriedly to the edge of the lake, clambering out hastily and shaking his fur dry.

"That sound…!" Pulse pounding, Knuckles breathed in deeply, calming himself as he listened to the repetitive clanging noise. His eyes narrowed as the direction it was coming from became clear.

Curling his powerful leg muscles beneath him, Knuckles pushed upwards, leaping into the air. His dreadlocks fanned out behind him, catching the current and allowing him to stay adrift in the breeze.

The beautiful scenery of Angel Island: the crystalline snows of Ice Cap, tall, imposing volcanoes that comprised Red Mountain… all went unnoticed beneath him as he glided towards his destination.

Descending gracefully from midair, Knuckles rushed impatiently up the steps leading to the small altar where the Master Emerald lay enshrined. His fists clenched and his teeth grinded together as he neared the top, a large part of him wishing that whatever had been endangering his- sorry, **the**- Master Emerald was still there so he could leave fist-sized impressions on its face.

It was an instinct of his, really, to prepare for a fight whenever the Master Emerald was involved. It wouldn't do to have strangers cart off or (sadly this has happened more than once) shatter the object he viewed as his birthright, the destiny he was fated to cling to.

Those who did not know the echidna personally figured that Knuckles' honorable, sacred occupation of guarding the jewel was some kind of freakish obsession. They thought he overzealously watched over the emerald and took great pleasure in half-killing any thing within viewing distance of said gem.

Still others saw the echidna as a type of overprotective mama bear who was always angry and alone. And male.

Knuckles considered those people misinformed.

He was a mixture of the two.

Unfortunately, the "Knuckles Smash" Express, which had been barreling up the aged ruins of the shrine post-haste, derailed and crashed as the echidna reached the top and saw exactly who was intruding on his island.

It was a hedgehog, female, roughly 14 years old. The petite pink figure was garbed in a bell shaped red dress, and her quills pressed against the nape of her neck, kept in place by a red hair band. Peach furred arms, that normally held a blue male of her species in a suffocating hug, grasped a wooden hammer with surprising strength. Green eyes were determinedly set upon the task at hand, which apparently was to beat the hell out of the Master Emerald.

Seriously, she was going at it like a coal miner who had caught a glimpse of gold and was going to town with their pick in an attempt to dig it out.

Restraining himself from utterly bellowing "WTF ARE YOU DOING YOU'LL MAKE THE ISLAND FALL", the blood-red guardian instead settled for a quiet "Ahem."

Amy Rose yelped in surprise, her hammer clattering to the ground as she turned around in panic. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she saw the imposing figure of the echidna behind her. She opened her mouth, perhaps to offer an explanation, but no sound came out.

After several seconds of Amy's fish impression, an intelligible rush of words slipped forth from the female hedgehog's mouth.

Which, to the echidnas' ears, sounded something like, "Gosh,Knuckles,'sreallyrudetosneakuponalady,waitaminutewhatareyoudoinghere?"

Knuckles considered responding to the last segment of gibberish with "Oh, nothing much. Just my _job_," but kept his snarkiness in check. Instead, he crossed his well-muscled arms across his equally muscled chest and responded, "I could ask you the same thing."

The expression on the young woman's face changed so quickly from guilt to frustration to slight fear that Knuckles could've sworn she was a schizophrenic who had neglected to take her medicine.

"Well um… err… ah, see, there's no good way to explain this at all…" Amy's mouth seemed to fumble back and forth trying to come up with an explanation. Her voice trailed off and she looked guiltily at the ground.

She began to push her fingers together, and Knuckles had to consciously restrain himself from tapping his foot repeatedly and uttering, "I'm waiting."

An eternity of awkward silence passed between the two hotheaded Mobians before the guardian coughed.

Knuckles sighed as the young girl across from him emitted a terrified squeak and jumped. "Listen, Amy, just tell me why you're here. Really, I'm not so temperamental as to not let you give your side of things before kicking you off my island."

Amy blanched considerably, giggling nervously at Knuckles' dead serious expression. Taking a deep breath, she began her explanation with a raised finger, "I think that, before you send me back home with a few extra bruises, you should know that I actually got here _without _threatening Tails!"

Knuckles raised both eye ridges in surprise. "Really? You didn't put him under any kind of physical stress, or imply violence, or anything?" He wondered exactly how he missed the sound of an_ airplane engine._

"I know! I just asked him nicely, and he flew me up here!" Amy said, pride for herself in her voice. She had been making some progress in the area of_ not_ threatening friends with blunt instruments used for bludgeoning and crippling.

"He _did_ fly you here in the Tornado, right? It's not like you made him take you here himself or anything?" Knuckles asked, slightly skeptical of the girl's methods, and still hung up on how he could have missed the constant whirring of the plane's inner workings.

Surely he wasn't losing his touch…?

"Of course, silly! Whatever would make you think otherwise?" Amy smiled sweetly, her fingers crossed behind her back. She made a mental note, not without a measure of guilt, to do more favors for Tails in return. _Besides, _she thought, _it's not as if he hasn't carried Sonic around before. All this flying me back and forth to Angel Island he's done has been good exercise! It's a chance for him to get out of his workshop, anyway!_

"Anyway, back to what I'm doing up here. You promise me that you won't get mad, no matter how silly the reason may seem to you?" Amy asked, almost pleading with the scarlet being across from her. Amy knew that his temper was volatile, and a lot of the time, logic and understanding were lost upon him whenever he was angry (which was often). She hoped that she hadn't dug herself a pit from which she couldn't escape.

"It.. it was for Sonic." Amy shut her eyes, cringing as if Knuckles had already balled his fists and the killing intent had appeared in his eyes. "_Hopefully he won't be too hard on me,"_ she thought.

Amy was thoroughly surprised when she didn't hear the raging shouts or feel the spiky fists that usually accompanied Knuckles in his fury. Barely opening her eyes, the young woman was stupefied to see the guardian looking… calm.

"Care to tell me about this little mission Sonic has sent you on?"

"Oh, no no no…" Amy waved her hands frantically in front of her face. "It may be _for _Sonic, but he doesn't _know _about it. It's… a secret," she finished, putting the elbow of her right arm in the palm of her left hand as she wondered how she could _possibly _sound any more stupid.

"How about you… divulge your secret to me, then?" Knuckles said with a grunt.

Amy uncomfortably noticed how he seemed to grind his teeth a little bit in irritation this time.

"Umm… you know how the Master Emerald is so...big?" Amy questioned, receiving a curt nod in response. She continued, "And whenever the whole thing shatters bad things seem to happen…" she began to count the list off on her gloved fingers, "the island falls, cities get destroyed, people die…"

"Your point being?" Knuckles interrupted her, his voice terse.

"I was getting there!" Amy shot back defensively. "It's because all that magical energy is released at once. But, if you were to take only one or two shards, say…" Amy brought her pointer finger and thumb together, separated by only a few centimeters, "this big. Such a small amount like that shouldn't hurt it, right?"

The lone male replied, "Humph. I can see Rouge coming up here to do that, but you, Amy? Why would you need to break off little shards of the Master Emerald with your hammer?"

Amy locked the fingers of both hands together, twiddling her thumbs as her jade eyes seemed to suddenly notice the floor.

The sun glinted sharply off the girl's gold bracelets and the wind echoed among the treetops as Knuckles awaited a reply. What seemed like an eternity of silence, punctuated by birdsong and breeze, passed between the two.

"Amy..?"

She stammered at first, and Knuckles had to strain to hear her voice against the overpowering sounds of nature.

In the smallest voice Knuckles had ever heard her use, she murmured, "I-I just thought Sonic might… err, uh, um… pay attention to me. Maybe with the emerald shards set in earrings or a necklace, maybe he'd finally slow down and look."

"Because nonstop mad chases and bone breaking hugs have made such _good _impressions on him, he'll surely want to stop and have a look at your jewelry." Despite his lack of social interaction and occasionally brusque mannerisms, Knuckles knew almost immediately he had crossed the line.

"Look, Amy, I'm sorry. It's just…" He was interrupted by a shake of her head and shakier laughter.

"No, you're right," Amy said, and Knuckles could've sworn he saw a brief glimmer of tears before the girl brushed them away. "I don't know what made me think he would care about jewelry, even if they were crafted with pieces of one of the most powerful objects in the world."

Knuckles, trying to comfort her, gave her a few awkward pats on the back. She smiled at him gratefully, and Knuckles noticed that she was quite cute, even if she was sad.

"It's just… he moves so _fast. _I almost feel like I have to chase him, because he doesn't slow down a bit and he'll keep moving on and on. I'll never catch up with him, and he'll… forget about me."

Knuckles expression softened as he spoke to her, "Amy, you know Sonic couldn't forget you even if he tried."

Amy sniffled as she rubbed at her eyes, "I don't know whether to take that in gratitude, or some other way. But, it's not only with me. He never really **stops **for anything. Not for you, or Tails, or any of his friends, really. I… really, I think I want him to slow down and _be there _for a little while, more than I want him to like me."

"That's Sonic for you, always wandering wherever the wind may take him. I don't think even the signs of the apocalypse could slow him down," Knuckles said, not without a slight hint of warmth in his voice. He would later deny any accusations of implied feelings of fondness for aggravating blue hedgehogs.

"His eyes are always on the road ahead, and never on the road he's currently walking- well, in this case, I guess running is a better word," Amy laughed, "he never takes the time out to truly enjoy the present- he's always rushing off to the next adventure." She took a deep breath, exhaling as loud as she could, "I just want him to remember we care about him, and to see things other than what lies in the future."

Almost under her breath, she added as an afterthought, "Like me."

"Don't worry about that, Amy. He knows. Besides," Knuckles shrugged, taking Amy's hand and leading her down the steps of the shrine, "if things between Sonic and you never come to fruition, there's- umm, 'always other fish in the sea'"? He finished lamely, wishing he knew another way to express what he thought without using such trite words.

Amy cocked her head sideways like an inquisitive child, "But Sonic's the only fish I want to catch."

Knuckles froze, his head conjuring the mental image of Sonic the Fish, swimming in the vast ocean and biting at chilidog shaped lures suspended in the water by a gleeful Amy Rose. Dispersing that thought (no matter how amusing it was) to the winds, he stopped as he reached the edge of Angel Island. "You should be getting back home, Amy."

"Erm, about that, Knuckles," Amy said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, "I… kind of can't get back home. Can you take me back? Please?" She clasped her hands together and made her eyes as wide and tearful as humanly possible in an effort to convince Knuckles to glide back to the ground with her on his back.

Being reduced to a ferryman for a crazed female hedgehog was another thing Knuckles would simply add to his list of injustices suffered during his lifetime, right underneath "bat girls" and "pesky blue acquaintances."

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**Questions? Comments? Critiques? Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!**


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